As The World Falls Down
by Crystilia Aerosine
Summary: It was like slow motion, watching as the great ShinRa legacy fell in disgrace. It would have been beautiful, in a twisted way, if he wasn’t still in the building. RXR, slight yaoi, oneshot.


**A cute, sad, slightly fluffy, and a bit depressing oneshot. Oh I aboslutely LOVE this pairing SO much! Reno and Rufus _belong_ together. **

**Ok so this follows Canon! And it's when the ShinRa building gets blown up with Rufus inside. Reno is supposedly watching from the outside, pretend he is on his way into the building when it happens. Tseng is presumed dead, and Elena is off recovering his body. Rude was with Reno when everything happened, but Reno was panicking and didn't pay much attention. **

**Tell me if you like it!**

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**As The World Falls Down**

The pillars of a great empire caught fire today. I watched the whole thing. It was like slow motion, watching as the great ShinRa legacy fell in disgrace. It would have been beautiful, in a twisted way, if _he_ wasn't still in the building. It was like my heart stopped as the building crunched and morphed from the heat of the impact. I could see his silhouette as he dove for cover, away from the window where he stood overlooking the rotten fruits of his family's labor. The mako vapors from the reactors only made the fire worse as it consumed the building at speeds I would have never thought possible.

I don't know when I started to move. All I know is that I was running. Running as fast as I could toward the building and the man I swore I'd give my life for. Shrugging off my jacket and using as a make-shift shield, I rushed inside the tower of hell and frantically considered the options. If the fire had hit the elevator shaft, I would have to take the stairs. 70 floors of stairs. That would take too long, I'd never reach him in time. But if I took the elevator and the fire melted the cables, then I'd never reach him _period_. Glancing back and forth I realized I was wasting time, and against my better judgment, my legs propelled me to the elevator.

I stumbled inside the small glass box, fully prepared to die. The shaft was luckily still functioning and the ascent began. Cheerful elevator music still chimed and did nothing but make me sick to my stomach. I needed to make this go _faster_. It felt like I was creeping along at one floor per minute, but still the numbers rose higher and higher up into the sixties. A sharp jolt of the elevator shook me from my impatient trace. I looked up, through the clear ceiling, and saw the fire nibbling at the cables holding me up. I was at floor sixty-six. Four more fucking levels to go. I jammed my fist into the emergency stop button and dove out the doors as they opened. The snap behind me told me it was a good choice, as the doomed box fell to the awaiting ground. I stumbled to my feet and began running down the hall. The stairs were at the opposite end and I reached them in what had to be record time.

I hurried up the stairs, flying past the last four levels. I withdrew my keycard and swiped it through the door's keypad. My access had the door swinging open instantly. I ran into the room to be met with a face full of fire. I ducked back and charged around it. I could see him now. Laying flat on his back, being crushed by flaming piles of wood, which I assumed to be his desk. The wood blazed as I noticed several broken bottles of alcohol, the kind he keeps to impress other wealthy businessmen. A macabre thought came to mind at the sight, he'd finally be done in by his decadent lifestyle. I knelt beside him and shoved the blistering wood off of him, scorching my hands in the process. His chest was a mess of burns, but luckily none too bad to be fatal. He was unconscious, but he'd had enough sense to put on his mask, once kept in the solitude of a "just in case" drawer, to prevent dangerous levels of smoke inhalation.

I was still doing an injury check as his eyes peaked open. I found myself looking into swirling pools of tearful blue. He didn't want to die. I lost myself for a moment, cupping his cheek with my hand. His soft, pale hand came up to grasp mine and he held on in obvious terror and dependence. I leant down and kissed his soot covered forehead.

"I'll protect you." It was all that needed to be said as I hauled him up and held him close. He couldn't stand on his own and I realized that he was dripping blood from his back. I could see a shard of wood coming out at an odd angle, almost certainly paralyzing him from the waist down. I closed my eyes in emotional agony and reached back to grasp the wood. His body trembled next to me, tears falling and hissing as they touched hyper-heated ground. I yanked hard enough to free the wood and he gasped loudly before letting out a sob. The man who never bleeds or cries, doing both in front of me. I'd longed to see proof of his humanity for so long, but now it just seemed _wrong_. He wasn't supposed to do things like this. He was supposed to be immortal dammit!

I dragged him forward, heading for the stairs again. Fire leapt up to block our path, but I navigated around it. I needed to get him to the medical staff immediately. I wished for a fleeting moment Tseng was still alive. I wished that he could be here to help me. Suddenly the position of _second best_ looked pretty appealing when faced with the ugly truth of the top. The stairs were hard to get down carrying another person, but I was determined to live. I didn't make it through a life in the slums to _give up_ when I really needed to fight. He'd always told me that my spirit was admirable, but would get me killed one day. I looked to my side to see him cringing with every step I took. At least my spirit will get me killed saving the person I care most for.

The building was shaking all around us as we hobbled down the steps. We had been moving for twenty minutes and still we were only at level fifty-nine. A large noise and rumble told me the top floors just collapsed inward. I could hear screeching as the metal bent and warped in ways nothing ever should. We were working against time now. I stepped it up and moved faster down the stairs, determined to reach the bottom. I knew it couldn't be pleasant for him, with his injuries, but I'd rather we make it out alive and die in a hospital than to burn to death here. I won't let him die here, he doesn't deserve _that_ much misfortune. The world would never allow his spirit to live it down. A great king brought down by his own kingdom.

We'd made it to the twenty-fourth floor, completely out of breath. I needed to stop, not even my enhanced body could take this. I set him down carefully and took a short rest. His hand curled in mine and his eyes wouldn't leave me. He was afraid of being left behind, as he was, after all, the weakest link. I grasped his hand and brought it to my lips, completely disregarding everything he'd ever told me about employer-employee etiquette. He didn't seem to mind now.

"I'm not leaving you, got it? I didn't work this damn hard to give up now. I'm going to get you out of here and you're going to be _fine_. I won't lose you. Not now, not _ever_. Now shape up! You're a Shinra, act like it. Throw some harsh words or commands, tell me you'll dock my pay if we don't survive. Just don't break please, I can't take watching that. I can't take watching my world crumble." Tears slipped down our cheeks as the building rumbled loudly again, a couple more floors caving in. The door a just a few floors up from us audibly burst open with flames. He crawled forward, using his arms, and put his head on my shoulder. I held him close to my body and kissed his cheek, temple, and hair. _He_ was my world, my saving grace, my everything.

As a couple more doors burst open, ushering in hot flames, I lifted him up again and raced downwards. It was like running the home stretch. I could see from the corner of my eye that he'd composed himself a bit, and I was thankful. I needed him to be stable. Finally we reached the lobby, and I saw for the first time the extent of the corruption of the planet. No rescue or emergency teams were even present. They all just watched as the place crumbled. The President may have been the most important person in the building, but he was _far_ from the only one. It hadn't made much of a difference to me whether others got out or not, I hadn't seen anyone since I'd been in the building. Presumably those who could get out already did before I had to use the stairs. But what about the people who were trapped? Certainly there were a few, so why weren't the rescue officials _doing_ anything? I guess no one really cares anymore.

I summoned up the last vestiges of my strength and headed for the door. I could see Rude arguing with the paramedics and the several officers holding him back from entering the building. Sad when people aren't even afraid of _Turks_ anymore. I rammed my shoulder into the door and it opened as I pulled us out. Rude made the final push to break through and came over to us, panic, uncharacteristically, showing clearly on his face.

"Is he okay? What happened?" I looked at him and made a face. Rude shut up and nodded, gesturing to the paramedics who sheepishly came forward, embarrassment written all over their faces. They hadn't believed it was possible! They were willing to risk their lives because they didn't have the guts to try something that was almost completely destined to fail. It angered me, but I was too tired to argue with them as we were taken to an ambulance. We were put on one large stretcher, since they were unable to get two. They closed the doors and in a few seconds the vehicle started to move. I was hot, burned, soot covered, pissed off, and most of all relieved. I did it! I didn't fail him.

His eyes found mine again and this time I smiled tiredly. He smiled too as his hand held mine tightly. Even the sound of the building completely collapsing behind us couldn't break the moment. I lifted my free hand up to cup his face, he nuzzled into the touch. I closed the distance and kissed him softly on the lips, content to just _be_ here with him. We settled closer together and relaxed into a position that we could sleep in.

"I told you I'd get us out." He smirked and nodded silently, and for moment ShinRa, AVALANCHE, and Sephiroth didn't exist.


End file.
